Why is quality important to you? What are the basic principles of TQM? What is TQM and its relevance to your organization? How do you achieve quality performance, using TQM and other principles? How do you maintain quality performance? The Fourteen Points W. Edwards Deming, a statistician and management thinker who influenced American industry during World War II and Japanese industry afterward, developed management principles centered on quality and continual improvement. These principles encouraged flexible, dynamic systems that involved people throughout an organization in producing goods and services that met customer needs, performed reliably, and were continually improved. His ideas are often associated with Total Quality Management (TQM), and they contributed to a number of related management approaches and innovations around the world. Why is quality important for you? Exactly what does quality mean in the context of advocacy, community development, health, or human service organizations or initiatives? A quality program: Responds as effectively as possible to the needs it was designed to meet Is totally consistent with the mission and philosophy of the organization or group carrying it out Is responsive to the priorities, needs, strengths, and cultural contexts of the people and communities involved Is a model of ethical behavior But why is quality important for a grassroots or community-based organization? Quality makes a group more effective at addressing the priorities and needs it is working on Quality adds strength and credibility to your organization or initiative Ethically, organizations should strive to provide the highest quality of service, support, or advocacy they can Investing in quality can reduce avoidable problems, strengthen effectiveness, and make better use of resources over time Developing a "culture of quality" can have a number of positive effects on your organization itself When staff members and volunteers see that they and the organization are doing high-quality work, it can strengthen morale, confidence, and commitment to the organization Striving for quality helps to develop organizational and individual competence, thus continually improving the organization A quality program continually improves its performance and service delivery, which can strengthen organizational credibility and better serve participants, community members, and partners What are the basic principles of TQM? (Much of the following discussion is based on material contained in Introduction to Total Quality: Quality Management for Production, Processing, and Services, 2nd Edition. Full source citation can be found under Resources.) There are some basic assumptions that underlie the idea of TQM. In this section, we'll look at how they might relate to your organization or initiative. Key elements of total quality Customer Focus: In TQM, the needs of the customer are the starting point for quality. In community-based work, however, the people most directly affected by an issue are more appropriately understood as participants, partners, community members, or constituents rather than simply as "customers." What priorities, needs, strengths, and experiences should guide the work? How can the organization respond effectively and respectfully while involving community members in shaping programs, services, and decisions? Commitment to Quality: Quality should be considered from the beginning and built into everything a business or organization does. Careful planning, monitoring, evaluation, reflection, and adjustment are all important. Quality is strengthened not only by identifying problems after they occur, but also by designing systems that prevent avoidable problems and support learning when challenges arise. Everyone in the organization should understand and contribute to this commitment to quality. Continual Improvement of Systems: The work of an organization should be viewed as an ongoing process of learning and improvement. Programs and initiatives should adapt as community priorities, needs, strengths, circumstances, and available evidence change. Unity of Purpose: In order for quality to be achieved, everyone in an organization or business has to work together toward common goals. That means mutual support throughout the organization, not turf battles, not jealousy, not unnecessary competition. All interactions among people in the organization should be mutually helpful and aimed at achieving the best possible performance of the organization as a whole. Teamwork: Working collaboratively can strengthen connections among colleagues, distribute responsibility, bring together different perspectives, and improve results. Effective teamwork also creates opportunities for shared learning and support. Staff Involvement: If everyone in an organization is expected to contribute to quality performance, staff members should have meaningful opportunities to shape how the work is done. People need enough autonomy and support to do their jobs effectively, and their knowledge, perspectives, and ideas should be respected and taken seriously. Education and Training: Achieving quality requires ongoing learning for everyone in an organization, and that learning should be part of the organizational culture. Staff members can learn from colleagues, community partners, participants, research, training, workshops, courses, and other organizations. Ongoing learning can strengthen skills and bring new ideas and perspectives to the work. Evidence-Informed Approach: For grassroots and community-based organizations, this means drawing on the best available research, practice-based knowledge, community knowledge, lived experience, and lessons from others to design and improve programs or initiatives. Using multiple forms of evidence is more likely to support effective, appropriate work than relying on assumptions or intuition alone. The founders of a Massachusetts community-based adult literacy program, with backgrounds in both developmental psychology and reading theory, based their program on the best available research in both areas. They worked to align the educational and support elements of the program and trained staff accordingly. Initially, because the program used an approach that had not been widely applied with adults, it was strongly criticized by others in the field. Critics argued that the program should use a stricter phonics-based approach and give less attention to students' concerns and community issues. Over time, however, the program maintained a low dropout rate and strong student outcomes, and others began experimenting with similar ideas. Fifteen years later, the program had become a model for the state while continuing to adapt in response to student feedback, changing needs, and new research findings. Long-Term Commitment: Quality requires sustained attention. Organizations should continue learning and improving even after reaching a strong level of performance. Rather than treating quality as a fixed endpoint, view it as an ongoing commitment to effectiveness, responsiveness, equity, and learning. The Deming Cycle The assumptions above underlie the "Deming Cycle," which is really a process for creating and selling a quality product. We'll revisit the Deming Cycle later to examine how it can be used in an advocacy, community development, health, or human service context. Plan - conduct consumer research and use it for planning the product Do - produce the product Check - check the product to make sure it was produced in accordance with the plan Act - market the product Analyze - analyze how the product is received in the marketplace in terms of quality, cost, and other data What is TQM and its relevance to your organization? It is important to note that the principles of TQM were designed for the business sector, so while some aspects are relevant to organizations concerned with advocacy, community development, health, and human services, other aspects may be contrary to the goals of those organizations. Some elements of TQM that would work toward quality in any environment include: The need for careful planning, monitoring, evaluation, learning, and adjustment Teamwork, shared decision-making, and meaningful participation throughout the organization Constant education and training for all staff Attention to the priorities, needs, strengths, and outcomes of community members and participants Identifying and changing what doesn't work well Encouraging and rewarding, rather than discouraging, new ideas Developing an organization-wide culture of quality Keeping at it over the long term Some elements which may not work toward quality for your organization are those that assume that the goal is the success of a business, such as: The emphasis on products and production, which may take the focus off the human needs and consequences your organization is concerned with The assumption of a hierarchical structure where those in authority control when and how others participate in decisions, and where leadership always comes from the top, which may conflict with collaborative or community-centered ways of working The definition of everyone as either a supplier or a consumer/customer, which may not fit grassroots and community-based work where people may also be participants, partners, leaders, contributors, and decision-makers How do you achieve quality performance, using TQM and other principles? Using the Deming Cycle while keeping some of the basic TQM principles in mind can help you design, deliver, refine, and maintain an effective program or initiative. Plan In Deming's original business framework, the Plan stage involves consumer research and product planning. In community-based work, this can be adapted as a collaborative assessment of community priorities, needs, strengths, resources, and context, followed by planning with the people and groups who will be affected by or involved in the initiative. Thus, the "Plan" part of the cycle might include the following: Conducting a community assessment that examines needs, strengths, assets, and resources and meaningfully involves people affected by the issue Identifying desired outcomes collaboratively from the perspectives of community members, participants, the organization, partners, and the broader community Determining ways to reach those outcomes that are feasible, consistent with the organization's guiding principles, inclusive and equitable, and responsive to the priorities, strengths, cultural contexts, and experiences of the people and communities involved Developing indicators that can help show progress toward desired outcomes and identify meaningful milestones along the way Creating meaningful opportunities for people affected by or involved in the work to participate in the development of the plan Do In Deming's original framework, the Do stage focuses on producing the product. In community-based work, this stage involves designing and implementing the program, outreach effort, service strategy, advocacy activity, or other action identified during planning. The work can draw on relevant TQM principles—such as teamwork, staff involvement, evidence-informed practice, commitment to quality, and responsiveness to participants and community members—along with community organizing and engagement principles. The following are important elements of designing an effective program: Finding out what has already been tried in the community, and how well it worked Learning whether past experiences with certain methods, approaches, organizations, or individuals created concerns or mistrust that should be understood before similar approaches are proposed again Using as examples other communities that have successfully mounted similar programs, while remaining aware that not everything that works in one place will work in another Consulting relevant research, practice-based evidence, community knowledge, and lived experience to understand what has worked in similar situations Meaningfully involving people affected by, participating in, and carrying out the program or initiative in its development Taking care of the logistics: accessible space or platforms, equipment and supplies, appropriate staffing and volunteer capacity, and other resources needed for implementation Check Review the program or initiative to determine whether it aligns with the plan and with what was learned during community assessment and engagement. Does it reflect identified priorities, strengths, and needs? Is it likely to support the desired outcomes in appropriate ways? Is it inclusive, equitable, accessible, and feasible? Were people affected by the work meaningfully involved in its development? Is it ready to move forward? Act In Deming's original framework, this stage involves bringing the product to market. In community-based work, it means putting the planned program or initiative into action. If it's going to work well, there are some non-TQM standards that need to be applied: Everyone involved should understand the process that led up to this program, as well as the philosophy, concept, and workings of it Everyone involved should understand their responsibilities and have the support, resources, and accountability needed to carry them out. Mistakes and challenges are inevitable; the goal is to create conditions where people can learn from them, address barriers, and follow through on agreed-upon responsibilities. Strong planning must be matched by effective implementation, clear roles, adequate resources, supportive working conditions, and people with the knowledge and skills needed to carry out the work Analyze Analyze how the product is received in terms of quality, cost, and other data. Analysis in this context - looking at what you're doing, evaluating it, and trying to improve it - needs to be conducted on the basis of the original plan, with discussions among participants, staff, and others. Consider: Does the program or initiative address the priorities, needs, strengths, and opportunities identified through assessment and engagement? Have those priorities or circumstances changed since the original assessment? Does the program or initiative reach, or help participants and communities move toward, the desired outcomes? Are those outcomes still appropriate and meaningful, or should they be revised? The indicators you developed can help you examine both questions. Is the plan feasible? Can the program or initiative be carried out with the time, resources, staffing, and capacity available? Is it accessible to participants? Are staff and volunteers able to do their work without unreasonable workloads or expectations? Is the program or initiative trusted, supported, or viewed as useful by community members and partner organizations? Is the program or initiative consistent with the vision, mission, philosophy, and guiding principles of the organization, and are those still appropriate? Do its internal practices—such as working conditions, shared decision-making, and relationships among staff, participants, volunteers, partners, and community members—reflect the values and changes the organization hopes to support in the broader community? Is the program or initiative inclusive, equitable, accessible, and respectful of participants and community members? Is the program or initiative ethical? Are its decisions and practices consistent with the organization's stated principles? Does the work uphold fairness, honesty, respect, participation, accountability, privacy, and responsibility for its effects? Although the two are usually congruent, ethical is not always exactly the same as legal. The exercise of civil disobedience may be profoundly ethical, while being, at the same time, inarguably illegal. The civil rights marches and actions led by Martin Luther King and others during the 1950's and 60's often fell into this category. Restart the cycle Your analysis should naturally lead into a new planning session and, where necessary, to rethinking and revising the program or initiative, or even the organization's role and priorities. How do you maintain quality performance? While the maintenance of quality is, to some extent, built into the Deming Cycle, it requires some particular commitments and action. Institutionalization of dynamism An organization needs to be dynamic, always moving and always seeking continued improvement, and to institutionalize its dynamic character. This means: A commitment to learning and adaptation should be part of the organizational culture, with people throughout the organization understanding and contributing to it. Encouraging and providing support -- to staff, volunteers, and participants -- for learning. Organizational support for education includes providing, or coordinating with another organization's provision of, professional development or university courses, training, certification, etc., that help staff and volunteers to build their skills. If financial resources are not available, other means of institutional support -- release time or leave time, special recognition, a library for the organization, study circles or reading groups, etc. -- need to be considered. Everyone in the organization, including administrators and Board members, should be encouraged to take advantage of learning opportunities and to model learning behavior. Listening to and carefully evaluating ideas from everyone. Encouraging openness to change and experimentation with new ideas and strategies Administrators and Board members need to model such openness by being willing to reexamine and change procedures, policies, etc. when needed. Staff and volunteers should be given room to try out even things that others may be skeptical about, as long as they can justify the attempt ("It worked elsewhere" and "I learned about it in a course" are both reasonable justifications.). If such an attempt is honestly carried out, it should be seen as a positive even if it fails: it provided new information, and is another building block in the construction of a quality program. Never being complacent and always being open to the idea that the work could be done differently -- and better. Incorporating ongoing reevaluation, including feedback, ideas, and knowledge from participants and community members. Always being aware of the original mission, but not being afraid of change. While the mission itself may change as the community and circumstances do, it should nonetheless remain consistent with the principles and philosophy upon which the organization was founded. Long-range strategic planning To maintain quality, an organization needs to continually examine its work with a long-term perspective. It needs to ask some questions about its role and its future: Is it meeting an ongoing need effectively? If not, what does it need to do to become more effective? Have community priorities, needs, strengths, or circumstances changed? Are they likely to? If so, how can the organization adapt in partnership with the community? Are there different or additional roles the organization should consider? Should it adapt or expand its current activities in response to current or emerging community priorities? Does it need more resources, or will it in the future? What are some likely sources? Is its structure appropriate to what it is doing and consistent with its mission and guiding principles? For example, an organization committed to shared power and community participation should examine whether its own decision-making structures reflect those values. Are its goals, vision, and philosophy still relevant to community realities and priorities and consistent with its organizational mission and guiding principles? SWOT Analysis One way to explore these questions is through the use of another planning tool often used in organizational settings: SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Each of the questions above can be examined through this framework. What internal strengths and limitations affect your organization's work? What opportunities exist? What external threats or challenges may affect the organization's ability to sustain quality performance? Strengths and weaknesses: Strengths and weaknesses may be trends, rather than specifics. A level of service that is currently appropriate, for example, is not a strength if it is more or less than will be needed in a year. A new program that's not ready to implement yet is not a weakness if it's unready because the developers are taking the time necessary to make it effective. By the same token, strengths and weaknesses don't necessarily lie only in the success of programs or the skills of staff members, but in such areas as relationships, contacts, and reputation. An organization running a great program may still be have serious weaknesses because it lacks some of these other features, no matter how well it carries out its day-to-day activities. Opportunities: Opportunities can take many forms. An organization may be able to address additional priorities with its current structure. For instance, an organization that connects pregnant adolescents with prenatal care may also be well positioned to provide or connect families with vaccinations, nutrition information, parenting resources, and other supports after a child is born. It may be possible to expand into other areas of service, or into a larger arena (another town, another county, national instead of just one state). Increased funding may be available from new sources, or because of changed circumstances. A new census, for example, can result in an increase in federal funds to a region, or an economic downturn may bring a demand -- and increased funding -- for adult education or retraining. Collaboration with other groups, leading to increased resources, may become a prospect. Invitations, awards, partnerships, or positive media attention may strengthen awareness of and confidence in your organization's work. Taking advantage of an opportunity can have both benefits and tradeoffs for your organization, so it is important to analyze the situation carefully before making a commitment. Threats (Challenges): Some opportunities also bring significant challenges and tradeoffs that should be considered carefully. Growth or expansion may require organizational restructuring, additional capacity, and substantial planning. Some opportunities may even lead an organization to reconsider its purpose or scope. As an organization grows or gains wider recognition, it is important to remain connected to its mission, guiding principles, community relationships, and accountability. Other challenges may arise independently of new opportunities. Your organization may have difficulty securing and sustaining funding and other resources, recruiting and retaining qualified staff, maintaining capacity across areas such as outreach, communications, programming, and evaluation, navigating controversy, or responding to opposition from individuals, organizations, or parts of the community. Applying SWOT analysis across the organization's work can help identify strengths to build on, limitations to address, opportunities to pursue, and external challenges to anticipate and prepare for. Other facets of the planning process Some specific areas that long-range strategic planning needs to address at regular intervals: Reexamining the organization's vision, guiding principles, and mission statement. Are they still relevant to what the organization does, the communities it works with, and the values it seeks to uphold? Do they need to be restated or redefined? Reexamining the goals of the organization. Are they still relevant to the community priorities and needs they were originally meant to address? Are they consistent with the vision and mission statement? Reexamining the current strategies of the organization for meeting those goals. Are current methods effective? Are they consistent with the organization's vision, mission statement, and guiding principles? Are they feasible, accessible, equitable, and responsive to community priorities and perspectives? Are they ethical? Keeping at it The single most important thing to understand about maintaining quality performance -- or maintaining an organization, for that matter -- is that you can never stop working at it. No effort at maintaining quality will work any longer than it is applied. No matter how institutionalized dynamism becomes, no matter how good your planning process is, they take constant care. The Fourteen Points Deming used the key elements listed above in "Basic principles of TQM" to define the "Fourteen Points," fourteen things that he felt businesses needed to do in order to achieve quality performance. Create constancy of purpose toward the improvement of products and services in order to become competitive, stay in business, and provide jobs. Adopt the new philosophy. Management must learn that it is a new economic age and awaken to the challenge, learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change. Stop depending on inspection to achieve quality. Build in quality from the start. Stop awarding contracts on the basis of low bids. Continuously improve the system of production and services to enhance quality and productivity, and thus constantly to reduce costs. Institute training on the job. Institute leadership. The purpose of leadership should be to help people and technology work better. Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively. Break down barriers between departments so that people can work as a team. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force. They create adversarial relationships. Eliminate quotas and management by objectives. Substitute leadership. Remove barriers that rob employees of their pride of workmanship. Institute a vigorous program of education and self improvement. Make the transformation everyone's job and put everyone to work on it. In Summary Achieving and maintaining quality performance is important to participants, community members, partners, funders, and the organization itself. Using some TQM principles and, specifically, the Deming Cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act, Analyze) can be helpful in getting to a high level of quality and continuing to improve. In general, achieving and maintaining quality is a result of: Careful planning Program or initiative development that adheres to that planning Implementation that takes quality into account Constant reevaluation of implementation and of the organization An assumption of the dynamic character of the organization, and a willingness to change continually in striving for a better way to accomplish goals Keeping at it indefinitely If your organization can sustain these practices over time, it will be better positioned to maintain quality, learn from experience, and adapt as circumstances change. Contributor Phil Rabinowitz Marcelo Vilela Resources Online Resources ASQ: The Global Voice of Quality is a global community of people passionate about quality, who use the tools and their ideas and expertise to make our world work better. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) publishes International Standards which ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. For business, they are strategic tools that reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors and increasing productivity. They help companies to access new markets, level the playing field for developing countries and facilitate free and fair global trade. ISO 9000 WWW Pages, provided by Simply Quality, lists websites that provide information on ISO 9000. The ISO 9000 family of standards is related to quality management systems and designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to the product. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of quality management systems. Little-Bitty Quality Steps is an article on small steps to quality on the website of Bacal & Associates, management and training consultants to the public sector in Canada. Publich Health Quality Improvement Exchange (PHQIX) allows people to submit short explanations of their initiatives and observations/lessons-learned. Total Quality Management provides a dictionary of TQM terms. Print Resources Deming, E. Out of the Crisis. (1986). Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Engineering Study. Deming, E. Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position. (1982). Cambridge, MA: M.I.T., Center for Advanced Engineering Study. Goetsch, D., & Davis, S. Introduction to Total Quality: Quality Management for Production, Processing, and Services, 2nd Edition. Merrill, an imprint of MacMillan Publishing Co. Hunt, D. (1992). Quality in America: How to Implement a Competitive Quality Program. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin. Latzko, W., & David, M. Four Days with Dr. Deming: A Strategy for Modern Methods of Management. (1995). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Sashkin, M., & Kenneth, J. (1993). Putting Total Quality Management to Work. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
